Direct steam-heating system for railway-cars.



R. M. DIXON. DIRECT STEAM HEATING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.29, 1908.

1,149,740. Patented Aug. 10, 1915. V s SHEETS-SHEET 1 4 4 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANPDRAPN IO-.WASHINUTON. D. c

R. M. DIXON.

DIRECT STEAM HEATING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.29. 1908.

1,149,749.. Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

K lam/g I INVENTOH M cnLuMmA PLANOGRAPH 60.,WA5HINGTON. D. c.

R. M..DIXON. DIRECT STEAM HEATING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

5 SH EETSSHEET 3- APPLICATION FILED AUG-29. 1908.

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F1517; 1a 1a V I //fi INVENTOR ATTORNEYS COLUMBlA PLANOURAPH CO.,WASHINGTDN. n. c.

R. M. DIXON.

DIRECT STEAM HEATING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

' APPLICATION FILED AUG.29, 1908.

1,149,740. Patented 10, 1915.

5 S -SHEET 4.

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WITNESSES 5 INVENTO/-7 barren s'rarns rarnnr ornros.

ROBERT M. DIXON, OF EAST ORANGE, JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, T0 STANDARD -HEAT. AND VENTILATION COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW- YORK.

DIRECT STEAM-HEATIN G SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY-CARSL To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ROBERT M. 'DIXON, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county of'Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements" in Direct Steam-Heating Systems for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a full,-clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and'use the same.

This invention relates to heating systems and more-particularly to direct steam'heating systems for railway cars or like structures. 1

One of the prime objects of the present invention [is to provide a heating system of the above character such that'the temperature of the interior of the car may be more conveniently regulated tomeet varying cli niatic conditions.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features 'of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which willb'e exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and thescope of the'application of which will be indicatedin'the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings wherein is illustrated two of various possible embodiments of my invention, Figurel is a View in perspective showing the floor plan of a railway car equipped with a heatlng system constructed in accordance with one embodiment thereof;- Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the discharge portion of the heating system; Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken through Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 4-i of Fig. 2, and showing the construction of the means for discharging the water of condensation from the heating system; Fig. 5 is a view in elevation ofthe inlet end of the heating system; Fig. 6 is a view'partly in section andpartly in elevation, showing the blowofi' valve; Fig. 7 is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section showing themeans whereby the steam is carried to the ends of the radiating pipes; Fig. 8 is a view in vertical section showing the interior construction Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 29, 1908; Serial No. 450,875.

of the blow-off and discharge portion of the system; Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a different embodiment of the invention; Fig. 10 ls-asimilar viewiof a portion of the apparatus shown 1n Fig. 9; Fig. ll'is a vertical sectlonal view taken substantially on line 11-11 of Fig. 10; and Fig.12 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 1212 of Fig. 10. M I S milar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawlngs. i

Referring now to the drawings, and parv j ticul'arly to that embodiment of my invention illustrated in'Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, 1 1nd 1cates the floor of a railway car under whlch extends theflusual train pipe 2 which receives its steam from a connection with the locomotive boiler or other source of steam supply. "Extendingfrom train pipe 2 are branch pipes, 3 and 4 respectively, said branch pipes leading to the sides of the car and being provided with. risers .as at 5 and 6 which extend upward through the floor of the car. Inasmuch as the radiating systems upon the opposite sides ofthe car are identical, adescription of one thereof, it

is thought, will sufiice to impart a clear understanding of the invention. The riser 5 is provided with a valve as at 9 and leadng from this valve is a short length of piping 7 connected at the opposite end thereof with a valve as at 8- which is in turn connected to a radiating pipe 7 extending longitudinally of the car substantially from end to end thereof. Leading from the piping 7 is a second radiating pipe 10 which also extends longitudinally of the car in parallel relation with pipe 7 and is provided with a valve as at 8.

It will be seen that by properly manipulating valves 8 and 8, either or both of the radiating pipes 7 and 10 may be supplied with steam. Pipes 7' and 10 intermediate their ends are provided with discharge conduits l1 and 12, which in the present instance. are arranged one above theother and lead toward the central portion of. the car. A diaphragm as at 13 is provided ineach of the radiating pipes betweenjthe discharge conduit thereof and the inlet end, and extending from an aperture provided in. diaphragm 13 is a conduit 14 which extends to 3 spectively a point near the opposite end of the radiating pipe as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings. This conduit insures that the steam shall pass to the ends of the radiating pipe before flowing back to be discharged from the system. In order to accommodate any water of condensation which may form between the discharge conduits and the inlet ends of the radiating pipes the diaphragms 13 are provided with minute apertures as at 15 through which any of such water of condensation may pass directly into the discharge conduit.

The dischar e conduits 11 and 12 lead into a special tting 16 provided interiorly with conduits 17 and'18, into which lead rethe discharge conduits 11 and 12. Conduits 17 and 18 also lead out of the fitting 16 and the discharge ends of said conduits lead into trap apparatus which is adapted to automatically discharge the water of condensation from the various radiating pipes. In the present instance each of the discharge conduits is provided with an independent trap so that each'of the several radiating pipes may act independently of the others. Each trap in the present instance is constituted by a capped tube 20 which is preferably formed of a metal having a high co-eflicient of expansion such as brass. The pipe 20 leads from a T fitting 21 which is threaded into the fitting 16, said T being provided with discharge pipes which lead the water of condensation downward through the floor of the car. A valve seat is formed interiorly of fitting 16 upon the end of the T as at 22. Threaded in the cap 23' of the brass pipe 20 is a rod 2&, said rod being preferably formed of a metal having a relatively low coefficient of expansion such as iron. This rod extends lengthwise of the pipe 20 and terminates within the fitting16,

the end thereof being threaded, as at 25, to

receive the valve 26 which cooperates with the seat 22. Valve 26 is provided with a squared head 27 which is received in a similarly formed socket in a stem 28 which extends exteriorly of fitting 16 through a gland 29. This stem is also provided with a squared head, as at 30, to receive a wrench or other turning implement. A spring 31 is interposed between the head 27 and. the bottom of the socket in the stem 28 and maintains the latter in operative position. Fitting 16 is provided with a chamber 32 which is in communication, by means of ports 33 and 34, respectively, with each of the conduits 17 and 18, said ports being adapted to be closed by a double gate valve 35 provided with a stem 36 which extends exteriorly of the casing and is provided with an operating handle 37. Leading from chamber 32 is a pipe 38 which extends downwardly through the floor of the car. Chamber 32 being common to both of the discharge conduits, provides a channel through which either of the radiating pipes may be discharged directly into the atmosphere.

invention, it will be noted that the discharge conduits and valve mechanism are located within the car, and that the thermostatic means is, therefore, susceptible to influence by the interior heat conditions of the car, as well as by the temperature of the water of condensation. In Figs. 9 to 12, however, I have shown a different embodiment of the invention, the main difference residing in the fact that the discharge conduits lead from the radiating pipes directly through the floor of the car to a fitting 42 similar to that shown at 16 in the first described embodiment. In the traps employed in this embodiment of my invention the inner pipe .40 is omitted and small apertures are formed in the caps at the end of the traps, so that the steam going through them will heat the brass pipe in a manner similar to that described in the first embodiment, whereupon the traps will operate to discharge the water of condensation. The stem of the gate valve in this embodiment of the invention extends upwardly through the floor of the car, so that thesaid valve may be manipulated to blow-off the system from the position interiorly of the ca Having thus described the construction of these two embodiments of the invention the operation thereof, which to a large extent should be obvious, is substantially as follows: In starting the system in operation valve 9 is opened to allow steam to flow into the pipe connection 7 and either or both of the valves 8 and 8- are opened, whereupon steam will flow into either or both of the radiating pipes 7 and 10, as the case may be. At this point it may be noted; that while I have shown two radiating pipes located on each side of the car, any number thereof may be added without departing from the spirit of the invention. The steam will then pass through the radiating pipes, thence through the tubes 14:, the water of condensation being discharged through the discharge pipes 11 and 12 through the automatic traps which act in accordance with the temperature of the water of condensation to discharge the .same from the system. The valves 25 of the traps have previously been set, of course, to proper positions to enable the difl'er'ences in expansion of the tube 20 and the rod 24 to open and close the valves so as to maintain an even temperature within the car. Should any matter accumulate within the system the same may be blown out through the discharge pipe 38 by opening the gate valve 85, which not only shuts off the blow-off passage for the steam, but separates the fitting into two separate chambers which discharge into their respective traps. Any water of condensation forming in the radiating pipes betweenthe diaphragm and the inlet ends thereof is discharged through apertures 15, said apertures being so small as to permit of very little steam passing therethrough.

It will be seen that I have described a construction well adapted to attain the several aims and objects of the invention in an exceedingly simple yet efiicient manner. One important advantage residing in the use of the present apparatus is the fact that the steam supplied to the system may be eX- actly regulated in accordance with the climatic conditions, either one or a greater number of radiating pipes being susceptible of being put into operation through a simple manipulation of valves located entirely within the car. a

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and spe cific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of lan guage, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A steam heating system having a plurality of radiating pipes, means for supplying steam thereto, each of said radiating pipes having an individual outlet for water of condensation, and said steam heating system including an independent outlet for water of condensation common to all of said radiating pipes, and a single valve member adapted to open and close communication between each of said radiating pipes and said common outlet according to adjust ment, and said valve adapted to close communication between said radiating pipes at their discharge ends when adjusted to cause each radiating'pipe to vent solely through its individual outlet.

2. A heating system having a plurality of radiating pipes, means for supplying steam thereto, each of said radiating pipes having an individual outlet for water of condensation, said steam heating system including an independent outlet for water of condensation common to said radiating pipes, and a single valve-mechanism adapted to open and close communication between each of said radiating pipes and said independent outlet according to the adjustment of said valve-mechanism, the construction of said valve mechanism being such that when it opens the common outlet it also necessarily opens the communication between said radiators and when it closes the common outlet it necessarily closes the communication between said radiators.

3. A steam heating system having a plurality of radiating pipes, means for supplying steam thereto, each of said radiating pipes having an individual outlet for water of condensation that is controlled by a trap which acts in accordance with the temperature of the water to be discharged, said steam heating system including an independent outlet for water of condensation common to all of said radiating pipes, and a single valve mechanism comprising a double gate valve adapted when in open position to open communication between each of said radiating pipes and said independent outlet, and when in closed position to close the communication between said radiators and said common outlet, the construction being such that when said valve is in open position it necessarily opens a communication between said radiating pipes and when in closed position it necessarily closes said communication between said pipes.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT M. DIXON.

Witnesses JOHN T. CLARK, E. E. ALLBEE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

